No, Ma’am, That Still Means Rewarding Your Friends For Criminality!

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness” (Isaiah 5:21-24).

My dear Sister of the Sisterhood of Women, As a follow-up of my letter to you on 14^th September 2015, I had planned to send you a congratulatory letter for being in the words of the late Ronald Reagan, “The only real man in Ghana.”

However, reading the report on your press conference of today has rather left a sour taste in my mouth, and I am afraid, I have no option but to come after you again, because what you have done is most disappointing, even outrageous! You have merely followed the footsteps of the spineless former and current male leaders of Ghana and actually hurt the cause of Ghanaian and African women for generations to come.

Following the national trend

When Jerry Rawlings was faced with the evidence of corruption of his ministers, appointees and cronies, he quickly issued a government white paper to cover them, knowing that he himself had been covered by an indemnity clause that was sneaked into the 1992 Constitution under cover of darkness.

In the face of stinky corruption by his ministers and appointees, Mr Kufuor said “it was people’s perception.” Not even the admission of his own party Chairman about the “10% being directed to the Castle” would move him into action. That acted as an impetus that fuelled the sewer of putrid corruption in which Ghana swims today.

Faced with unprecedented corruption, greed and sheer broad daylight robbery, the stench of which rises above the high heavens (Embraer Aircraft deal, Isofoton, SADA, GYEEDA, Woyome and the lot), President John Mahama has decided that since Ghanaians generally have the memories of marsupials, he wouldn’t dignify a sigh to those millions out there who talk “baloney” about corruption in his government, as in “yenntie obiaa.”

What is now as certain as night follows day is that each of our leaders who has in the past ignored the protestations of the people of Ghana has one way or the other benefited from the corrupt dealings of their people. Whether in the matter of others taking the can on their behalf and serving jail terms, facing the brunt of the media and the general public or simply being “buried” in the back rooms of the corridors of power, it has been the same, criminal cover-up of wrongdoing!

In my first letter, I posited that: “Woman to woman, I suggest that you use this bribery scandal to conduct a major cleansing of the whole judiciary system, and you should begin this antiseptic cleaning immediately. Those 34 judges that have been fingered in the investigations should be suspended indefinitely without pay.

Their remunerations and other allowances should be used to set up a high level independent committee to investigate all the judgements, activities and decisions made by the thirty-four judges, court clerks and other workers in your outfit over the past ten years, with a view to righting the wrongs that they have perpetrated on some of our unfortunate compatriots.”

I also suggested that: “Those members of the judiciary who are found to have abused their positions in society should be prosecuted and jailed to serve as examples to all those who think the judiciary is a gold mine for the corrupt acquisition of wealth and peddling of influence.”

Now with your press conference; what exactly do you mean by a judge who has taken bribe and perverted justice and either freed the culprit or actually jailed or fined the victim ‘showing remorse?’ How about their victims, whose careers, families, businesses and reputations have been forever ruined beyond repair, by these scoundrels? What if Kofi Mensah steals a goat or even kills Araba Mensima tomorrow and goes to court and shows remorse? Is the mere display of shallow contrition a tenable ground for being acquitted and spared the full rigours of the law’s fair judgement and onward punishment?

You may be interested to know that in the private sector when somebody is sacked from their place of work for whatever reason, they lose ALL entitlement, whether they show remorse or not. What exactly are the rules that govern the engagement of judges and magistrates in our judiciary service? Is it because of this rather lackadaisical attitude towards retribution that cases run in our courts for years on end? Remember what Ecclesiastes 8:11 cautions: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”

Sorry, Ma’am, I am not a lawyer, but simple native common sense tells me that what you have succeeded in doing in this despicable case is to reward criminality, and whether you are doing it out of ‘Christian charity’ or the usual Ghanaian “scratch my back and I will scratch yours”, in the words of Shirley Brown, “I don't know how you're gonna take this; But whether you will be cool or come out of a bag on me; You see, it doesn’t really make any difference.” The plain truth is “You are dead wrong!”

In all transparent sincerity and honest truth, Ma’am, I am of the firm opinion that your actions are nothing but a nasty slap on the faces of all the poor, “unconnected” people of Ghana; those who unfortunately have to battle all odds to make people like you live like Arab sheikhs. The least the people of Ghana expect of people like you is fair and same treatment before the law.

Being of the same fraternity and a person like-minded, the next thing the poor Ghanaian will hear is either the Attorney-General is not going to bring any prosecutions against these rogues or else, she will proffer some inconsequential charges against them and mount a weak, vacuous, and infantile prosecution so she can “lose” the cases, as the pattern has been with all such cases in recent memory.

Sorry, My Ladyship, I am not just filled with a tincture of remorse but an overpowering grief and mortification at how you could have blown such a splendid chance and timeless opportunity that beckoned you to summon your exalted powers that thrust you into such a high position as first female Chief Justice of this dear nation.

Like a vexatious flea that refuses to be silenced, I remain of the opinion that since you have not mustered the courage to act in the way that we believe you should act, you may now do the honourable thing and consider your position. With my eyes glistening as I write to you, I am saddened to inform you that without a modicum of doubt, you have made a laughing stock of the Sisterhood of Women! Can you hear the peals of laughter echoing through the disgust of disappointed women and many other Ghanaians?

I shall return with my beaded gourd, God willing.

Naana Ekua Eyaaba has an overarching interest in the development of the African continent and Black issues in general. Having travelled extensively through Africa, the Black communities of the East Coast of the United States as well as London and Leeds (United Kingdom), she enjoys reading, and writes when she is irritated, and edits when she is calm. You can email her at [email protected] , or read her blog at https://naanaekuaeyaaba.wordpress.com/.